Petitions, ballots aren’t comparable

Published 12:01 am Friday, October 21, 2011

In response to the Thursday letter, “Apply petition logic to ballots“: Does the writer truly not see a difference between taking on a legislative role and voting on a measure put before the electorate? Our legislators are public, they are citizens who choose to work to represent our interests as a people by governing our state through the rule of law. When you choose to sign a petition you are taking on that role, in a limited capacity. When you vote on your private ballot you are merely signaling your approval or disapproval of the legislative action put on the ballot by our legislators.

The word “legislator” comes from the Latin for “law bringer,” and when you choose to sign a petition, you are choosing to be part of bringing that law to the people. In this country, we believe that individuals have a right to their private, personal opinion, thus the secret ballot. You get to choose your preferred option and tell whomever you want, everyone or no one. That is fundamentally different than taking on the law-bringing role. We require our leaders to be public. From our elected officials to the people who finance them, Americans want to know who is shaping our policy. If the senators and representatives in Olympia or D.C. tried to pass laws they knew would be unpopular without attaching their names to it, the people would rightly be outraged.

There is a clear legal distinction between the role of legislator, or petitioner, and voter. Arguing that if petitions are public then ballots must be too is a slippery slope argument that just doesn’t pass the sniff test.

Jono Hanks
Everett